CLASS’ART Intensive Drawing

The Class’Art is a one-year drawing intensive program designed to provide a strong foundation for students who intend to pursue further studies in academic or professional art schools worldwide or to aid in refining the observational drawing skills of artists with an existing practice. Exercises are designed to foster a rational process for translating visual phenomena with line and value. The rigorous curriculum is centred on the traditional study of plaster casts and drawing from the live model.

Cast Hall Exercises

1) Bargue plate cast copies

Ranging in complexity, this series of copies will be undertaken in graphite to help the student establish a rational block-in process, developing visual tools such as comparative measurement, abstract shapes, and tilts on the picture plane.

2) Bargue plate figure copies

A series of graphite copies of the Bargue figure studies will continue to refine the student’s block-in process while introducing new considerations such as gesture, contour overlap, and conceptual anatomy.

3) Cast block-in

This graphite exercise initiates a transition from copying flat shapes on the picture plane to translating three-dimensional volumes in space.

4) Cast drawing (block-in and form rendering)

Incrementally more complex, these longer-term graphite studies begin with the accurate linear description of contours, plane changes, and shadow shapes, then proceed to the description of dimensional volume using carefully modulated values, prioritizing conceptual over optical analysis.

Figure Studio Exercises

1) Short pose figure block-in

Ranging from 20 minutes to 180 minutes, these graphite exercises continue to solidify the student’s block-in process with a focus on quickly capturing dynamic gesture and proportions of the living model.

2) Long pose figure drawing (block-in and form rendering)

Ranging from 30 to 60 hours, these highly developed graphite studies synthesize all skills acquired in the preceding exercises (linear block-in and conceptual form modelling), with an additional emphasis on structural anatomy and portraiture.